AT least, seven persons were feared dead on Sunday when an explosion rocked the Port Harcourt Refinery Jetty in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State. It was gathered that several persons were seriously injured as a result of the explosion, which was allegedly triggered by the activities of pipeline vandals and oil thieves.
Updated 5 Years ago

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have arrested Mr. Mohammed Buhari, an adopted son of a former Head of State, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, for an alleged N20m scam. A source at the EFCC said that the young Buhari obtained the said N20m from one Mrs. Nwokocha Florence to invest in an oil and gas business with a promise to make mouthwatering returns to the lady.
Updated 5 Years ago

CONTRARY to the popular thinking that Nigeria is corrupt due to the incessant stealing of public funds by a few persons, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission has said that stealing is not corruption. According to the commission, most acts credited to corruption have no relationship with stealing.
Updated 5 Years ago

Some motorists have called on the Lagos State Government to tackle early morning robbery at the Mile 2 Bridge on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway area. They made this appeal on Friday in separate interviews with our correspondent. The motorists lamented that robbers had made it a custom to harass vehicles every morning, especially around the Mile 2 Bridge.
Updated 5 Years ago

Last-minute advice from some foreign intelligence services, who are currently part of the efforts to free the over 200 abducted schoolgirls of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, stopped President Jonathan from embarking on the trip to Chibok on Friday. They termed the trip “ill-advised and contemptuous”. LEADERSHIP gathered that the initial plan of the president was to visit Chibok early on Friday before heading for Paris, France, where he is currently attending a security summit. A Presidency source hinted that the president’s planned trip to the troubled town was against the initial advice of Nigeria’s security and intelligence community.
Updated 5 Years ago

Nigerian telecom operators have joined the Big Data bandwagon, deploying next generation data mining technologies that will help them predict consumer behaviour, choices, buying habits and trends of their subscribers who use their networks to connect to the Internet. The Big Data market is already valued at more than $200 billion. Big Data will play a role in simplifying and improving the most common to complex tasks while giving back time and money. It will facilitate better search, discovery, monitoring and control of most households needs, from repairs to energy usage and in daily lives there will be less aggravation from traffic and queues of all kinds, including at call centres, transport hubs and retail centres.
Updated 5 Years ago

Mixed reactions have continued to trail the latest policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which directs banks to destroy all trapped ATM cards, as many bank customers said the policy is a step backward for the cash-lite policy. Speaking with LEADERSHIP variously, many bank customers condemned the policy, urging the CBN and banks to ensure that all ATMs are functional and well maintained before making such policy which according to them is not only time consuming but would be an additional burden on the customer.
Updated 5 Years ago

Nigerian shareholders are in for a lean harvest, going by the weak first-quarter numbers presented so far by most of the banks, unless a miracle happens in the current and future quarters leading to the end of the 2014 financial year. LEADERSHIP investigations reveal that banks are particularly facing a challenge in trying to deliver solid operating performance following recent developments within the regulatory environment, especially the 75 per cent cash reserve ratio (CRR) on public sector funds and 15 per cent on private sector funds.
Updated 5 Years ago

AstraZeneca Plc rejected another takeover offer from Pfizer Inc. as too low, leaving the companies in a stalemate over a deal that would create the world’s biggest drugmaker. AstraZeneca shares plunged the most in more than 16 years. The 69.4 billion-pound ($117 billion) proposal, which Pfizer said was final, fails to account for the value of the U.K. drugmaker’s pipeline of experimental medicines and presents risks for shareholders, AstraZeneca said today in a statement. The offer values the company at 55 pounds a share. AstraZeneca said the price would have to be more than 58.85 pounds for the board to be able to recommend it to shareholders.
Updated 5 Years ago

Facebook is going head to head with rival Snapchat in the video-chat app market as the social networking group scrambles to win back users from the popular ephemeral messaging app. Facebook has been working for several months on the app, known internally as Slingshot, with a simple and speedy user interface, said people familiar with its plans. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief, has been overseeing the top-secret project after failing to woo Snapchat's creators Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy with a $3 billion takeover offer late last year.
Updated 5 Years ago